Southeast Texas Tea Party hosted a community rally on Monday.
Julie Garcia/The Enterprise

Southeast Texas Tea Party hosted a community rally on Monday.
Julie Garcia/The Enterprise

Photo: Julie Garcia/The Enterprise

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Tanjia Chandler

Tanjia Chandler

Photo: Jefferson County Sheriff

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Local Tea Party organizes rally to stop division

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The Southeast Texas Tea Party organized a rally Monday in an effort to raise a sense of community and unity in the area on the day following the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The organizers for the event, which attracted about 100 people, worked with Jefferson County Tax Assessor Shane Howard to invite Democratic Rep. Joe Deshotel to speak for the Tea Party supporters, as well as multiple conservative candidates and politicians.

Julie Melancon, the main organizer for the event, started the rally off with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, followed by a plea to stop letting the government divide Americans down racial, economic and party lines.

"Today we're not here to protest, we're here to rally as a community," Melancon said, before introducing Tea Party member David Guidry as master of ceremonies.

The rally attracted two Texas senate seat candidates, Ted Cruz and Glenn Addison, as well as leaders of conservative groups like Raging Elephants and Get Out of Our House.